Occupy Wall Street!

As I write, the wonderful “Occupy Wall Street” protests are happening in New York City. It’s about time that those who see clearly (most of America, actually) got pissed enough to get out on the street.

Photo by david_shankbone, flickr.com.

Why let misinformed tea partiers steal all the thunder? Their “grass roots” movement has actually been funded by the likes of the Koch brothers since the beginning. This one is the real “grass roots.” And it is protesting the real evil: the corporate takeover of our government.

You see, tea partiers, government in and of itself is not the problem after all. It’s the inept use of it, the corruption of it, that is the problem. Government in a democratic republic such as ours, after all, is OUR creation. It is the people’s tool, to be used for what we can agree on, through the representative process.

But when that process gets co-opted by the moneyed elite, it is corrupted, and the result is a dysfunctional government that caters to the rich, instead of the people.

It’s way past time to “take America back,” as tea partiers are so fond of saying. However, let’s take it back for us, not for the Koch brothers. For real justice, not corporate “justice.” For real prosperity, not just for the top 2%. For the hard-working people of this nation.

The mainstream media has been mostly ignoring these protests. That’s not surprising. They’re owned by said moneyed elite, after all.

So turn off your cable news, start reading some of the great investigative reporting still being done in certain portions of the media. Like Matt Taibbi’s incisive work in Rolling Stone, or magazines like Mother Jones, In These Times, The Nation and so on. And online sites such as ReaderSupportedNews.org, truth-out.org, Alternet.org, etc, continue to report the facts, rather than the corporate spin.

Time is running out. Will we wake up?

James Israel
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